The invention relates to guards for protecting a zone between a lever, knob or the like and a chassis of a lock assembly, and to the lock assembly itself.
A sleeve in a lockset is most vulnerable at the zone where the knob or lever adjoins the hub, especially for those chassis cover appearance designs that do not provide overlap reinforcement. Accordingly, reinforcement and axial retention of a knob or lever sleeve to its chassis at the vulnerable zone is highly desirable. It is also desirable to provide for cost-efficient sleeve manufacturing options, and for additional chassis styling options for knobs and levers that are subject to forced-entry attack.
The present invention provides a retention and reinforcement system for knobs, levers and the like. It also provides a lock assembly including a retention and reinforcement system for knobs, levers and the like. Use of a rigid, cylindrical support collar in combination with the knob or lever and the chassis achieves at least the following advantages:
1. axial retention of the sleeve to the hub;
2. improved resistance to axial wobble; operating stability is enhanced by the axial length of the support collar;
3. radial reinforcement of the sleeve to withstand sleeve distortion during forced entry attacks; and
4. the axial length of the collar is sufficient to allow the knob or lever itself to provide positive axial retention of the collar to the sleeve.
According to the present invention, a retention and reinforcement system for knobs, levers and the like, comprises a chassis defining an aperture, a sleeve extending from the chassis aperture, a collar, and a graspable member. The graspable member includes a sleeve-engaging portion defining an interior wall. The collar includes a flanged portion and a sleeve engaging portion and is sandwiched between the sleeve and the interior wall of the graspable member with the flanged portion disposed adjacent the chassis and the sleeve engaging portion disposed adjacent the sleeve.
The flanged portion defines a flange extending radially outwardly a predetermined distance from the sleeve-engaging portion and the sleeve-engaging portion defines a sleeve-engaging member coupled to the sleeve. According to one aspect of the invention, the sleeve-engaging member includes at least one tab that engages an aperture in the sleeve to retain the collar on the sleeve. According to another aspect of the invention, the sleeve-engaging member includes an aperture having an edge that is staked to the sleeve. The sleeve-engaging member can further include a dimple engaging an aperture formed in the sleeve.